Rabada hails ambulance man Bavuma for 'stellar' bowling job: 'He's surprisingly decent'

Kagiso Rabada hailed his Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma for shouldering a weighty bowling burden in Sunday's 7-wicket victory in the 2nd ODI against Bangladesh at the Wanderers.

The diminutive right-hander, far better known for his classy stroke-play and excellent fielding, bowled 6.1 overs and only conceded 22 runs after he was essentially forced to do so by Wayne Parnell's hamstring injury.

Parnell had snapped up a wicket in his second over, but then left the field shortly afterwards, leaving Bavuma with just four front-line bowling options.

As a result, he took it upon himself to fill the all-rounder's remaining quota of overs.

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"He does bowl sometimes in the nets, especially when we're preparing to play Test cricket. He stopped doing that because he realises how tough it is. The next morning he's got aches and pains and seems to complain about it," Rabada, the Proteas' hero on the day with a fantastic haul of 5/39, said with a chuckle.

"[Jokes aside] I actually haven't seen him bowl so many overs in a match situation. Temba's actually a surprisingly decent bowler. I don't think many teams would expect him to bowl as well as he does. 

"He did a stellar job."

Bavuma would probably have risked bowling himself for another over had he not gone off for a few moments after hurting his finger attempting a caught-and-bowled chance.

Instead, the even more unheralded Rassie van der Dussen was handed the duty of bowling the 49th over - admittedly "protected" by Rabada removing the set batters a few overs earlier - and his gentle off-spinners only went for three runs and produced a wicket.

"Yeah, Rassie will definitely now be throwing around the